Holy Week Visit

Spring break and Holy Week usually coincide so we had the pleasure of a visit from four of our grandkids and enjoyed several fun outings. Our visit began with dinner at the Melting Pot, a pizza place in Front Royal which had absolutely no atmosphere (maybe grunge) but had good food. We met our daughter and her husband to make the exchange in the midst of a wild thunderstorm accompanied by hail. Fortunately, by the time we were ready to leave, the storms had moved out.

Sunday was Mass day and, since Larry and I had tickets for Groucho at Wayside Theatre, Marianna came over to play. Later on Brendan said the thing he liked best about the weekend was playing with Marianna. Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos of them together. But it was sweet to see the eleven-year-old wooing his shy little two-year-old cousin.

Monday was our big outing day with a trip to Skyline Drive for a picnic and hike. A nice young man offered to take our picture at one of the overlooks, our only photo of all of us together. What a view!

We stopped at the Pinnacles picnic area which is at the top of a ridge and unprotected which makes it chilly and breezy. We were chasing napkins and using ice to weight our cups.

Before moving on to hike the Limberlost Trail, Lauren played Queen on the mountain (or the big rock anyway).



The Limberlost Trail is 1.3 miles and handicap accessible which means it has a firm surface and is nice and wide, although we ran into a ranger in one spot that was rough and rutted from recent rains. He was working with a rake which looked hopeless. He said they had already done the trail earlier, but would have to bring in bigger equipment to get it back into shape for the season. The trail was a good choice because it's mostly level and easy with plenty of diversions like big fallen trees and huge rocks for scrambling over and walking on, a wooden bridge over a stream, and cut tree trunks that made stumps for sitting or climbing. There are plenty of benches along the trail for taking rest breaks too.

I was fascinated by the natural arch made by the bent tree trunk in the photo below.

Sean is usually intrepid and resists any help when we are out hiking, but we apparently wore him out. He took a break on Paka's shoulders.

Nearing the parking lot at the end of the trail which makes a big loop.

With a stop planned for custard, we had no complaints about the ride back. Only one disappointment, we didn't see a bear. As a matter of fact we saw hardly any wildlife at all, but there were lots of visitors to the park and with four noisy kids, we must have been a scary group. The animals were apparently lying low -- except for this critter. Hmm....is it a giraffe? a seahorse? a unicorn?

Skyline Drive in June: Mountain Laurel Heaven

We've been taking care of our little granddaughter for the past two months while our daughter recovers from a serious knee problem, but yesterday was a rare day off and we took full advantage of it with a hiking trip up to Skyline Drive. A lot of the overlooks were closed despite the fact nobody was working. We passed at least eight with the entrance/exit blocked and only one place where anyone was working. Seems a little crazy, eh? But there were signs everywhere saying, "You're recovery dollars at work." Was that a metaphor for the ineffectiveness of the stimulus? It was more than a little annoying because several of the hikes we planned required parking at overlooks that were closed. Ah well, we just shifted to other spots. There are certainly plenty of hiking trails in the park.

First we did a 1.5 segment of the Appalachian Trail from Fishers Gap which took us through large sections filled with mountain laurel in full bloom. One portion was actually a natural tunnel with laurel on both sides creating a lovely bower overhead. I thought how beautiful it would be with a bride and groom standing under. What a sight!

This trail also had some overlooks offering spectacular views to the west. It was a little hazy but still beautiful.

We decided not to backtrack on the trail, but did the second 1.5 miles on the road walking back to the car. It's an entirely different experience from driving. We saw two dear crossing the road who paused to look at us. We kept our eyes peeled for bear, but no luck there although we did see a large pile of scat in the woods that was probably a bear's. Undoubtedly our quest for bear failed because we didn't bring our bear charm. Grandson Brendon who has been with us twice when we saw bears.)

Our second hike was the Trace's Trail from Matthew's Arm Campground near milepost 22. Interestingly, while it was also a walk in the woods like the first hike, there wasn't any mountain laurel at all, but lots of tiny wildflowers which I enjoyed photographing. I need to pull out my wildflower book to identify them.

We finished our day with dinner in Front Royal on the way home and the determination to come back very soon. If you are 62 you can buy a senior pass that is good forever at all national parks. It's the best buy in the country since it comes with breathtaking views, refreshing foot bathing in the many waterfall pools, fresh air, and an endless supply of unforgettable moments. Skyline Drive is worth a visit if you do nothing else in the state. But we don't recommend that. Who would want to miss the Virginia vineyards and all the wonderful historical sites.

Y'all come.

I Love Wildflowers!

Just ask my husband what I bring home when I go for a walk...a handful of wild flowers and grasses from the side of the road. It might be a mini-bouquet of buttercups and tiny daisies with a few interesting grasses and some purple clover for extra color or maybe three big Queen Ann's Lace clusters with some intersting weeds with pretty leaves and some blue cornflowers. I can even make a bouquet out of an assortment of grass mixing the wheaty-looky stems with some long tapering leaves. I like to put them in my kitchen window and admire them when I was dishes..

When I'm out with my camera, though, I often bring home a digital bouquet of wildflower pictures. Here are a few from some recent trips.

Blackwater Falls, West Virginia:






George Washington National Forest near New Market, Virginia:





Not a wildflower but I love the three distinct leaves from the Sassafrass Tree:



Shenandoah National Park near Skyland on the Skyline Drive:

Photos from our Skyline Dr. Trip. Come Visit!

Here are some more photos from our alternative trip - not in any order. That's John under the car hooking up the gadget to connect the brakelights on the camper before towing us home. The landscape view is from the highest peak on Skyline Drive, Hawksbill Peak. I got Larry with his mouth full eating lunch on a bench along the Limberlost Trail which is handicap accessible and there I am checking out the trail map and the trail guidebook on the patio at Skyland lodge. The last picture is the tunnel at Mary's Rock, the only tunnel on the Skyline Drive. There's a great story board there showing pictures of the workers blasting through the mountain to make the tunnel. What an incredible feat.

Come visit us and we'll take a ride up to the Drive. We have a liftetime pass and it truly offers some views of a lifetime.

But wait until Larry recovers from his surgery. For those who don't know, he has early stage prostate cancer and will have robotic laporosopy (Did I spell that right?) on Thursdayat George Washington Hospital in Washington, D.C. He'll only be in overnight and then home recuperating. From all reports the recuperation is quick and he should be feeling pretty good within just a few weeks. Please keep him in your prayers.

Close to home can be beautiful!

I love blogging and I love my family, so what an adventure to do both at once. I wanted to create a space where I can post pictures from fun family events and also share some of Larry's and my adventures in camping, etc. For my first post I'll share an adventure that wasn't quite what we expected. On August 28th we headed out in our 1999 Trooper towing our Trailmanor hard-sided popup for a two week camping trip to upstate New York. We were going to end up at my aunt and uncle's 50th wedding anniversary in nearby Vermont. Three hours on the road (after a very nice lunch in Chambersburg, PA) the transmission blew. Fortunately as smoke poured from the rear we were able to get to the next exit and pulled off on the shoulder next to the stop sign. So much for our plans. Thank God for AAA.

We spent the next two days in Lebanon, PA stranded trying to figure out our next move. It was a holiday weekend -- no hope of getting a repair until the next week at the earliest. After our attempts to rent a tow vehicle and continue our trip failed and being turned down on a one-way rental to go home, I called dear brother John (my hero) who drove up with his suburban and towed us home. We moped for two days and decided we needed an alternative trip, so we threw a few things in a bag and took a short drive up to Skyline Drive where we checked into Skyland and spent three days hiking, horseback riding, and enjoying the beautiful scenery. (The video is one of my first attempts and gets a little crazy at the end because I didn't realize it was still filming.) We were sorry to miss the 50th wedding anniversary, but enjoyed our three days in the mountains.